Why NCCM is more important than ever
EMA on Management
By
Dennis Drogseth
,
Network World
, 06/16/2008
- Share/Email
- Tweet This
- Print
As many of you know, I believe that the network management industry as a whole is in a state of redefinition - or just raw
chaos. But one of the brighter spots has been the growth of network change and configuration management (NCCM). Even if it
hasn't grown in dollar market value as fast as some areas, like WAN optimization, NCCM is more strategic in my opinion and
an ultimately richer and more empowering investment.
In the past, network configuration management had been relegated to an element-management approach associated with the “care
and feeding” of new network devices. However, new NCCM products are helping to reshape network management as a more process-aligned
discipline with a widening range of values. These include supporting service integrity and service performance, minimizing
risk, optimizing security and compliance, managing network assets more holistically, and achieving what in the past were undreamed-of
new levels of operational efficiency.
The spate of acquisitions of NCCM vendors in the second half of 2007 reinforces the importance of NCCM technologies. The acquisition
of Opsware by HP in July was followed in October with BMC’s acquisition of Emprisa and EMC’s acquisition of Voyence. This
left AlterPoint and Intelliden as the two most conspicuous “full-function” NCCM vendors still freestanding in the market,
but in our solution center on NCCM, http://itsolutions.emausa.com/ we are or will be also including NCCM solutions from AdventNet,
ArcSight, CA, Dorado, Netcordia, OPNET, SolarWinds and UpLogix.
Each of these offers a distinctive footprint – with unique advantages and radically different price points ranging from a
few thousand dollars to well into the six figures. Some offer out-of-band support (UpLogix). Others support performance and
capacity planning (CA, OPNET and Netcordia). Some are focused on governance, risk management and security – such as Intelliden
and ArcSight. Still others, such as AlterPoint, have invested heavily in analytics and governance for lifecycle network asset
planning.
After the network build-out in the 1990s, element-specific uni-brand solutions for configuration management had proven unable
to keep pace with accelerated needs for scalability, operational efficiency and functionality. In general, element vendor
solutions have been command line interface-specific and proprietary in design, and they require a high level of device-specific
expertise.
Partner Content
Blue Stripe Software
www.bluestripe.com/
Improving Application Performance Troubleshooting
Diagnosing why an application is slow is hard, at times taking days or weeks to isolate and resolve. This paper explains the challenges involved using current management tools, provides a 'wish list' for application management and analysis, and explains the need for an application system-wide approach that monitors entire applications, not components.
Download Whitepaper
Virtual Vigilance: Managing Application Performance in Virtual Environments
This paper highlights the impact of virtualization on application performance. "Managing Application Performance in Virtual Environments" states: "Best-in-Class organizations are predominately taking actions around improving visibility across both physical and virtual systems, assessing the business impact of application performance and understanding interdependencies of applications in virtualized environments."
Download Whitepaper
Application Service Requests: The Missing Link for Pragmatic ITSM
Forrester Research analyst Glenn O'Donnell and BlueStripe co-founder Vic Nyman discuss a breakthrough approach to application problem management. Learn the new approach for ITSM problem management, which provides: Rapid isolation of application slow-downs to specific components for quick problem resolution, 24/7 monitoring for proactive notification of potential issues before end users are impacted and much more.
Register for Webcast
Comments (1)
English 1CBy Anonymous on September 24, 2008, 1:24 amwhy is it career perfomances is consider as important..?
Reply | Read entire comment
View all comments